Pellet Maker Installs ORC Biomass Power System

Turboden was chosen by Maine Woods Pellet Company to supply a biomass based Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) power unit for its plant in Athens, Maine. The plant can produce up to 100,000 tons of wood pellets per year.

The Turboden ORC system will produce 8 MW, converting the heat of thermal oil generated by wood residues from de-barking and chipping operations.

Maine Woods Pellet secured a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Central Maine Power, covering the power to be exported to the grid and will benefit from a tax credit for the project equity investments according to the New Markets Tax Credit Program. Start-up of the biomass power unit is scheduled for March 2016.

This is Turboden’s second order in the United States, after the 1 MW ORC unit installed at Albany County Sewer District in Menands, NY.

Turboden, a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries company, is an Italian company involved in the design, manufacture, and service of ORC turbogenerators, which harness heat to generate electric and thermal power from renewable sources, including solar, biomass, geothermal energy and waste heat from industrial processes, engines or gas turbines.